Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality

Singh, Narendra; Sharma, Radha Mohan; Dubey, Anil Kumar; Awasthi, Om Prakash; Porat, Ron; Saha, Supradip; Bharadwaj, Chellapilla; Sevanthi, Amitha Mithra; Kumar, Amrender; Sharma, Nimisha; Carmi, Nir

doi:10.3390/plants12233978

Open AccessArticle

Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality

by

Narendra Singh

¹

,

Radha Mohan Sharma

^1,*

,

Anil Kumar Dubey

¹,

Om Prakash Awasthi

¹,

Ron Porat

²

,

Supradip Saha

³,

Chellapilla Bharadwaj

⁴,

Amitha Mithra Sevanthi

⁵

,

Amrender Kumar

⁶,

Nimisha Sharma

¹ and

Nir Carmi

⁷

¹

Division of Fruits and Horticultural Technology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India

²

Department of Postharvest Science, ARO, The Volcani Institute, P.O. Box 15159, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel

³

Division of Agricultural Chemicals, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India

⁴

Division of Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India

⁵

ICAR-National Institute of Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi 110012, India

⁶

Agricultural Knowledge Management Unit, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India

⁷

Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, ARO, The Volcani Institute, P.O. Box 15159, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Plants 2023, 12(23), 3978; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233978

Submission received: 4 November 2023 / Revised: 22 November 2023 / Accepted: 24 November 2023 / Published: 26 November 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards Sustainable Development of Horticulture in a Changing Climate Scenario)

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Abstract

The assessment of the optimum harvesting stage is a prerequisite to evaluating the performance of new citrus genotypes. The intrinsic and extrinsic fruit quality traits of citrus fruits change throughout their developmental process; therefore, to ensure the highest quality, the fruit must be harvested at an appropriate stage of maturity. The biochemical changes in terms of total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS/TA ratio, BrimA (Brix minus acidity), and ascorbic acid, in addition to the organoleptic acceptability of 16 new interspecific citrus hybrids, were evaluated in New Delhi (India) during the H1-H8 harvesting stage at 15-day intervals to standardize the optimum harvesting stage. The TA and ascorbic acid content were at a maximum level during the early harvesting stage and declined with time, reaching the minimum level in the last harvesting stage. The TSS, TSS/TA ratio, and BrimA values were found to have an increasing trend up to the last stage in most of the hybrids. The juice content shows an inclining trend during the initial harvesting observations, followed by stable juice content and then a decline. The BrimA was found to be a better predictor for consumer acceptability compared to the traditional maturity index TSS/TA ratio and, thus, harvesting maturity. Specific TSS, TA, and BrimA values, in addition to the juice percentage and ascorbic acid content, corresponding to the highest hedonic score, were judged as the optimum harvesting stage indicators for an individual hybrid genotype. Among the interspecific hybrids, SCSH-9-10/12, SCSH-11-15/12, and SCSH-17-19/13 were found to be superior, having better juice acceptability organoleptic scores (≥6.0) and higher juice content (≥40%). Principal component analysis based on fruit physico-chemical traits could be able to distinguish the optimum maturity stage in all of the citrus genotypes.

Keywords: BrimA; fruits; postharvest; juice; new hybrids; physico-chemical

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MDPI and ACS Style

Singh, N.; Sharma, R.M.; Dubey, A.K.; Awasthi, O.P.; Porat, R.; Saha, S.; Bharadwaj, C.; Sevanthi, A.M.; Kumar, A.; Sharma, N.; et al. Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality. Plants 2023, 12, 3978. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233978

AMA Style

Singh N, Sharma RM, Dubey AK, Awasthi OP, Porat R, Saha S, Bharadwaj C, Sevanthi AM, Kumar A, Sharma N, et al. Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality. Plants. 2023; 12(23):3978. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233978

Chicago/Turabian Style

Singh, Narendra, Radha Mohan Sharma, Anil Kumar Dubey, Om Prakash Awasthi, Ron Porat, Supradip Saha, Chellapilla Bharadwaj, Amitha Mithra Sevanthi, Amrender Kumar, Nimisha Sharma, and et al. 2023. "Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality" Plants 12, no. 23: 3978. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233978

APA Style

Singh, N., Sharma, R. M., Dubey, A. K., Awasthi, O. P., Porat, R., Saha, S., Bharadwaj, C., Sevanthi, A. M., Kumar, A., Sharma, N., & Carmi, N. (2023). Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality. Plants, 12(23), 3978. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233978

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Harvesting Maturity Assessment of Newly Developed Citrus Hybrids (Citrus maxima Merr. × Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) for Optimum Juice Quality

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